Sunday, May 30, 2010

In 1879, a railroad known as the Pekin, Lincoln and Decatur moved into southeast Illinois by taking over the Decatur, Mattoon and Southern. When it did so it was renamed the Peoria, Decatur, and Evansville Railway. In 1900, the year of the date of the cancel above, the railroad was sold at auction to the Illinois Central, and much of its rail lines were operated by the IC for the next 76 years. You can find a more detailed history of the PD&E by clicking here.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Below are some of the Chattanooga Medicine Company cancels from the above list. Several dates are missing, and there are possibly more dates that are not included in the above list. I am looking for confirmation and examples of missing images or non-listed dates. I will post the editable Excel list in the next day or so.

Among the many banking houses of which New York is justly proud that of Heidelbach, Ickelheimer & Co. is one of the most prominent and substantial. This firm has been in existence under the present firm name some ten years, but the individual members have been engaged in the banking business for a much longer period. The senior Mr. Philip Heidelbach began his successful career in the clothing trade, having founded the great manufacturing concern of Heidelbach, Seasongood & Co., of Cincinnati, over forty years ago.

While still remaining in the manufacturing business, having amassed a large fortune, he embarked in the banking business, forming the well known house of Epsy, Heidelbach & Co., also of Cincinnati, which during the past 25 years has won an eviable reputation. The other gentlemen composing the firm--Mr. Isaac Ickelheimer and Mr. Alfred S. Heidelbach, both of whom have been engaged in banking the greater portion of their lives--are well and favorably known in financial circles both her and in Europe.

Mssrs. Heidelbach, Ickelheimer & Co. transact a general foreign banking business: they buy and draw bills of exchange, make cable transfers, and issue travelers' letters of credit on prominent houses in all parts of the world....

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The Chattanooga Medicine Company, like Mumm Champagne, is still in business in 2010. The company is today known as Chattem, but remains Chattanooga based and has a stable of products recognized by millions of Americans. Kaopectate, Selsun, Flexall, Aspercreme, Gold Bond, and many other products are manufactured by Chattem. As a kid in the south growing up in the 1970s, I recall many of these products advertised on AM radio, especially Gold Bond.

Chattanooga Medicine's printed cancels are special because their design included a bit of flair. All the company's printed cancels include the company name in an arc surrounding a prominent star designed to bullseye the battleship on the stamp. All of Chattanooga Medicine's known printed cancels follow the design below as originally hand illustrated in the Joyce lists:

Alternatively, the image below comes directly from a cancelled stamp:

In the Joyce lists, black and white illustrations of fancy cancels are included. In all instances these drawings were made by hand. The above example comes directly from a stamp. I am just starting to learn to use the "Magic Wand" in Photoshop, and so far the I've learned how to "rip" cancels like the one above, creating an image of the cancel clear of its underlying stamp.

To the real business of this post and the process of updating the Joyce/Chappell list for these cancels. Below is the Chattanooga Medicine listing from the Joyce volume, a discrete and simple single column.

Not very legible by looking at the image in this post, but you can click the image and view a readable version.

Like Mumm, the Chattanooga cancel listing is fairly simple. The company cancelled two values of the proprietary series, the five eighths cent and two and a half cent stamps. Few printing varieties exist. Within the next two weeks I will post a link to an Excel file of this list for public comment and contributions.

On a personal note: I spent four summers as a kid at Alpine Camp near Fort Payne, Alabama. Chattanooga was the big city nearby.

The Nashville, Chattanooga, & St. Louis Railway operated in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia and was the first railroad to operate in Tennessee. The Louisville and Nashville, one of the greatest southern railroads, took over the NC & StL in 1880. The NC&StL operated independently for years before ultimately merging with the L&N in 1957. The railroad never reached its namesake city of St. Louis.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Derisively referred to as the "Cuss, Kick and Swear," the CK&S operated mostly in Kalamazoo County Michigan and would never reach its namesake cities of Chicago or Saginaw. The railway would eventually become a part of the Michigan Central and the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, both controlled by the New York Central.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Another image contributed by Frank Sente. This time a December 1901 Mumm printed cancel with a stark printing variety. Notice the "ghost" image of cancel at end of "FRANCE" and 1901. Frank believes this may have been caused by a foreign substance on the sheet which later came off, leaving nothing but a ghost image. This explanation would mean this variety is a "one-off" and not a repeated variety.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Update: Dave Thompson helps out again - a Darwin L. Weeks was a town supervisor for Schroon in 1885. The document of the History of Essex County, New York is little help with the business of Mr Weeks, however.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Google Gold Run Placer Mining and you will get an avalanche of businesses offering the company's old stock certificates for sale. Sites alternately refer to the company as based in Washington State, Colorado, or several other places. This one needs research. Great cancel and name though. Some of the stock certs for sale show battleship documentary stamps attached. This stamp was cancelled right at the end of the tax period for the 1898 revenue series.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Robert O'Gorman was a prominent businessman at the turn of the century in Newark and seemed to have many interests, from insurance to banking. O'Gorman and Young were insurance agents in Newark. Robert O'Gorman was a named partner in the firm. The Bankers Magazine of 1911 tells us Mr. O'Gorman was a director of the new Broad and Market National Bank of Newark. So this handstamp cancel could have served many purposes, though I am guessing the stamp payed the tax on a bank check.

Currently available as an Ebay store item by Momen Stamps. Great cancel from a company that I think was an east coast firm that controlled several urban railroads. The stamps is great, though reasonably cheap without this cancel. Most of the $95 is for the cancel. Which is amazing. I wonder if anybody will pay this price. I could retire if most of my collection was priced similarly.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Approximately 3 years ago a series of lots were offered on Ebay by a seller in the United Kingdom. The lots consisted of 1898 series revenues on document fragments. All seemed to be from firms engaging in equity transactions. Below is a prime example of one of those fragments, cancelled by J. P. Morgan and Company.

Cancels on document fragment by J. P. Morgan and Company

Hyphen-hole versions of:

R166 4 cent documentary

R172 80 cent documentary

R185 2 dollar documentary

Reverse side of fragment with corporate branding for

Drexel & Company in Philadelphia

and

Morgan, Haries & Company in Paris

Drexel and Company: Founded in 1838 by Francis Martin Drexel. The company experienced early success from opportunities created by gold discoveries in California. A. J. Drexel, the son of Francis Martin Drexel, became the head of Drexel & Company when his father died in 1863. A.J. partnered with J.P. Morgan and created one of the largest banking companies in the world, Drexel, Morgan & Co., which might explain the formal association with Morgan, Haries on the transaction fragment posted above.

Search 1898 Revenues -- or Inquire at 1898revenues@gmail.com

The Cotton Trade in late 19th Century America

Click on Edgar Degas' painting "Cotton Exchange" to explore posts on this site from firms in the cotton trade during the 1898 tax period.

Stock Brokers at 1898 Revenues

Explore 1898 to 1902 stock broker cancels by clicking on the brokers above.

Strong Cobb & Company or Snyder, Chaffee & Company?

How did an internet auction and an observant collector in 2011 correct a mistake made by leading collectors like Clarence Chappell and Morton Dean Joyce going back 70+ years? Read Frank Sente's philatelic detective story by clicking on the stamp.

Publishing 1898 Revenues

John Langlois is the publisher of this site. He began seriously collecting 1898s in 1999, soon after his return from Liberia. Now a resident of Kenya, John publishes 1898 Revenues as a way to keep up with his collection and communicate with other collectors. Additional content contributors to this site include: Dave Thompson, Bob Hohertz, Frank Sente, Malcolm A. Goldstein, Bob Patetta, Tim Kohler, Ron Lesher, Bart Rosenberg, Len McMaster, Hermann Ivester, Richard Friedberg, J. W. Palmer, Michael Mahler, Rick Lokos, and Sean Roberts. These collectors have sent in scans and sometimes explanatory information regarding their stamps or documents for posting on this site. Dave Thompson is a prodigous supplier of material and ideas, while Malcolm, Bob H. and Frank S. have contributed posts to this site. We welcome other contributors! Write to us at 1898revenues@gmail.com.

Note on the title painting

Above is a low res image of Mort Kunstler's painting The Rough Riders. The painting depicts the 1st Volunteer US Cavalry led by Teddy Roosevelt charging Kettle Hill near Santiago, Cuba during the Spanish American War. See more of Kunstler's work at http://www.mortkunstler.com/. Image copyright Mort Kunstler.

1898 Revenues Wanted

Values for Series of 1898 Revenue Stamps - The "Battleship Revenues"

Most 1898 "Battleship" stamps, whether of the documentary or the proprietary series, are fairly common and cheap stamps, despite having been issued and used more than 100 years ago. If you have one of the more common values of this series, your stamp or stamps are likely worth less than a dollar in used condition, regardless of perforation or other distinguishing characteristics.

Whether you look at online catalogs for these stamps, such as Eric Jackson's website, or you refer to a standard reference for values of these stamps like the Scott US Specialized Stamp Catalog, you will find only a few stamps of this series to be worth more than a few dollars when in used condition.

These are only example values and ranges of values for some of the more common stamps you might find in old documents or in a relative's collection, and they are only meant to be a guide. However, there are some stamps of this series that are a bit more scarce than others and consequently command higher values. In particular:

In all cases, any of these stamps found on old documents or on old products, especially the proprietary stamps, are worth far more when still on the original item or document of use. Don't remove them from the document or old box or bottle unless you are certain you know what you are doing!

Bob Hohertz on 1898 Stamped Paper

Frank Sente's American Philatelist 1898 Revenues Cover Story

In the 1950s, Morton Dean Joyce updated a list of printed cancels on the battleship proprietaries compiled by Clarence Chappell. Joyce's is a very long list consisting of more than one hundred companies and thousands of cancel dates. In the years since Joyce completed his list, many new cancel dates have been demonstrated to exist, and an update of the 1950s list is needed.

This site is attempting that update. Using the Joyce/Chappell lists and the former collection of Henry Tolman (ARA #25) as a base, a gradual effort will be made to post updated lists to the best of my knowledge, making a call for those that can contribute new dates and new images of those cancels.

Following in this column are quick links to excel files of these lists by company. Also are links to the posts that I have made on this blog regarding these companies and their cancels.

Feature: G. H. Mumm Printed Cancels

FEATURE: CHATTANOOGA MEDICINE COMPANY PRINTED CANCELS

Criteria for Cancels Included in these Updated Lists

The updated lists on this site will not include handstamped cancels. Printed and typed cancels will be included. This differs from the Chappell and Joyce criteria for inclusion.

Joyce used criteria for including cancels in his lists based on Chappell's original criteria. From the introduction of Chappell's original list: "Only the printed and typed cancels will be given consideration in this list. The only exception being those firms who also had private die stamps in this period. The handstamps of these few companies are of general interest and I feel they should be included." I don't think the "general interest" consideration is a strong enough reason to complicate an already complicated set of lists. The handstamps listed by Chappell and Joyce are not printed by definition, they are likely not exhaustive, and by virtue of being handstamps are prone to innumerable types and subtypes. I reason that if a new list is of printed cancels, we should keep it that way, and let others that have have done more work on the subject of proprietary handstamps handle those cancels.

Thus, if you are interested in the handstamp cancels of any of the firms in the updated printed cancel lists, please refer to the excellent work of Robert Mustacich and his Battleship Desk Reference at http://www.battleship-revenues.com/.

The practice of eliminating handstamp cancels from the updated lists will have implications for the revision of cancel types from the Joyce lists. For example, the first few Antikamnia cancel types according to both Joyce and Chappell are handcancels. These cancels will no longer be included as cancel types.

The goal will be to minimize confusion for those who come to collect these cancels and make sense out of them.

1898's Personal Kenya Blog

Photos from Kenya - Click on the Hyrax!

Join the American Revenue Association

Click on the seal to go to the ARA site where you can find an application